Chapter Eighteen: ** Alone I Break **

AJ turned and walked away.

 A minute later, Debelah woke up. She yawned softly and didn’t open her eyes, still half asleep. She felt two arms wrapped around her and a body next to hers and immediately stilled. She could TELL that it wasn’t AJ without opening her eyes. Chills ran down her spine and she felt fear building up inside her, knowing somebody was alone with her in the room and holding her in her sleep that wasn’t AJ or any of the other guys- she knew them close enough to automatically know it wasn’t any of them. She slowly opened her eyes to see Bruce’s face inches away from hers and immediately screamed, which woke him up. She thrashed wildly, panicked, trying to get his arms wrapped around her off which was hard because they were clasped behind her back. Hands fumbling, she pulled on his hands franticly ; without realizing it, she screamed in fear incessantly the whole time, screaming for help and screaming for AJ at the top at her lungs.

 Bruce woke up to find her trying to get away from him and was confused as to why she would want to. Finally, she wrenched his arms away from her and leapt, bolting for the door. Bruce pushed himself off the couch and ran to the doorway in front of her, blocking her way. Debelah tried to shove past him, feeling nearly hysterical as panic blinded her,” Let me GO!!”

 Bruce rolled his eyes,” Stop being so difficult.” He wrapped an arm around her waist and picked her up, walking back towards couch; all the while, Deb yelled and kicked violently, straining against his hold and scratching at his arm. She bent over and bit his upper arm hard and he howled in pain, throwing her on the couch. She hit the back of the couch, landed on her back on the cushions, bounced once, and didn’t have time to react before Bruce sat on her middle, straddling her.

 “You don’t have to act like this. There’s no one around to tell your little pop star about us.”

 “What are you TALKING about?!” she yelled, flabbergasted, getting pissed off that she couldn’t get him off her.

 Bruce bent to whisper in her ear and she cringed back, feeling sick to her stomach. “I know you want me. It’s ok. I came to your room this morning to be with you. You were in the shower, remember? I was going to take you them. I could see you through the frosted glass while you took a shower and I just watched for a little bit before I went to open the shower door. I knew you wanted me to. But then I heard that prick coming back to the room so I had to hide until I could sneak out. But I knew it was just a matter of time before I could get alone with you. I just had to wait.”

 Bruce’s ear was right next to her mouth. Debelah raised her head slightly and said calmly and slowly,” He’s not a prick, I’m not a slut, and you are psychotic, demented, fucked up, son of a bitch.” And then she bit his ear. He reared back with a shout. Kicking her feet off the couch, she brought them up and wrapped them around his neck, squeezing her legs together and forcing him backwards. “Get the HELL off me!” she screamed, removing her legs and shoving him to the side once most of his weight had been shifted off her middle.

 Scrambling to her feet, she made a move towards the door but Bruce reached out and yanked on her arm. Debelah turned, her arm still held, and shook her head at him,” Oh boy, you have NO IDEA what a mistake you’ve just made.” And she launched herself at him, letting out a fighting cry as she attacked him viciously, seeing red. She kicked, bit, scratched, slapped, punched and fought hard, her only focus on paying him back. Twisting out of his grasps or picking herself off the floor, she would just charge at him again.

 Bruce finally reached up and grabbed her shoulders, slamming her onto the floor and pinning her there. Debelah’s vision blacked out for a moment after her head hit the floor and the breath knocked out of her, she couldn’t do anything as Bruce once again straddled her middle to her hold her down. He clamped her wrists together and held them above her head with one hand. Debelah blinked a few times to clear the black dots from her eyes and immediately started screaming at the top of her lungs, praying that AJ, somebody would hear her.

 Bruce paused with his other hand going up underneath her shirt and exclaimed,” Shut up! Someone’s going to hear you!”

 *Dear God, this boy’s insane! He actually thinks I WANT him to do this!*

 “That’s the point, you prick!” Debelah yelled. “Get OFF of me-“ she started wiggling and squirming violently, kicking her legs, twisting her torso to try and get him off and pulling on her wrists,” –or I SWEAR to GOD I will kill you!”  Desperation and panic edged her voice when she realized she couldn’t get him off her.

 *I’m in trouble*

 Suddenly, two hands grabbed Bruce by the shoulders and wrenched him up. Debelah looked up to see Kevin’s green eyes flashing with anger as he pulled back his fist and punched Bruce across the face. “You son of a bitch, you do NOT treat women like that!” He grabbed fistfuls of Bruce’s shirt, his body taut with anger, and then threw Bruce against the wall.

 Debelah’s body shook, her eyes welling up with tears as her lower lip trembled. “Kevin?” she sobbed, crying.  Kevin immediately let go of Bruce and turned towards her; Bruce took that time to scramble out of the room. Debelah sat up, bowing her head and covered her face with her hands as she cried. Kevin sat next to her on the floor and wrapped his arms around the girl he’d come to think of as his little sister, cradling her in his arms.

 “Hey, guys, there you- what happened?” Howie entered the room.

 “Bruce attacked Debelah,” Kevin told him, placing his hand on the side of her head as she leaned it against his shoulder. She’d stopped crying but had a look on her face that was so desolate the couldn’t bare to look at it. “What?” Howie exclaimed, shocked. Debelah sniffled and looked up. “AJ. Where’s AJ?” Her eyes finally focused on them.

 “Well, he was just down the hallway…”Kevin trailed off with his arm pointing towards the door as a thought came to him. “Actually, he was the person who told me to come in here.”

 Debelah stilled. “What?”

 “I passed him in the hallway and he looked pissed and he told me that I wanted to know what was wrong then to come into this room. Why would he say that?” Kevin wondered. Debelah wiped her tear stained cheeks with the back of her hand before shakily standing. “I have to go find him,” she mumbled, walking unevenly towards the door. “Are you sure?’ Howie asked, placing a hand on her shoulder when she passed him,” Maybe you should sit down.” Debelah shook her head. “I have to go find AJ.” She walked down the long hallway, a slight limp on her step. Finally spotting him walking away in one of the far away connecting hallways, she let out a relieved sigh and called out,” AJ!” He stopped and went completely still, his back ramrod straight but Debelah didn’t take this warning. She hurried up to him as he turned around slowly.

 “Where have you been? I need to tell you what happened-“

 “Yes, please tell me,” AJ bit out sarcastically, crossing his muscled arms across his chest. “What lies do you want to tell now?”

 Debelah took a step back in shock from his angry tone and his cold eyes. “What…are you talking about?”

 AJ’s eyes narrowed, “Oh, I get it. You’re going to deny everything, aren’t you? How about you try telling the truth for once. I know about Bruce and you. God KNOWS what else you were lying about.”

 “…Bruce and me?? Bruce attacked me!”

 “Oh, and you just fell next to him on the couch, is that it?” he shook his head bitterly, a flicker of hurt flashing in his anger filled eyes. “And to think I actually believed in you, that you really cared about me. You were just using me.”  Debelah’s jaw dropped,” AJ, what the HELL are you talking about?!” She began to grow angry at the things he was accusing her of and then gasped,” You think I CHEATED on you?!”  “You think I cheated on you?” AJ mocked her then shot out,” No, I don’t think, I know. It’s kind of obvious when I see you two lying together. So tell me, Debelah, why’d you do it? I mean, I thought things were going fine but APPARENTLY not if you thought you had to run around with your little dancer! How could you DO this to me!!”

 Debelah stepped towards him, thrusting our her arms and pointed at her wrists, “Does it look like I did this to myself?”, showing him to the red marks on her arms and then the ones on her stomach,” What about those? Did I do those to myself, too?” Confusement flashed through his eyes for a second as he looked at them, a flicker of doubt, but then he regarded her coldly,” I’m sure whatever you did, you deserved it. Don’t expect me to come to the rescue for you from the guy you’re cheating on me with.” Debelah’s head jerked back as though she’d been slapped. He turned from her to leave and she stepped towards him without thinking, fearing this would stay between them if he left. She placed a hand on his shoulder. “AJ, you can’t-“

 He turned around and pushed her away form him,” Don’t touch me! Not after him!” Debelah stumbled backwards, her back hitting the wall from the push. She stared at him with wide eyes, her mouth opening but she couldn’t speak. AJ froze, suddenly realizing what he’d just done and he looked absolutely horrified,” Deb-“ he said, stunned, reaching a hand out to touch her. Debelah flinched before his hand could even touch her and he felt his heart break that instant, She didn’t say anything, just stared at him with those wide, damning eyes and he felt a wave of disgust sweep over him and combined with the his anger towards her, he turned and left her again.

 Five minutes later, Debelah walked back into the room in a daze, her eyes watery but she was not crying. Nick was in the room now, too, with Kevin and Howie and they stopped talking when she walked in. “Did you find AJ?” Howie asked. Debelah looked over at them slowly and nodded her head. “Where is he?” Kevin asked after a second when she didn’t say anything. “He left,” Debelah said softly. “He saw Bruce and me when Bruce laid down next to me on the couch while I slept. He thinks I’m cheating on him. He doesn’t believe Bruce attacked me.”

”WHAT?!” they exclaimed. She sank into the couch, drawing up her knees to her chest. “I want to go home,” she said, her voice cracking. Then she realized she didn’t have a home to go to and she rested her forehead on her knees, closing her eyes.